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08-18-2016, 11:42 PM | #1 |
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intermittent battery charging issue
I'm experiencing an intermittent battery charging issue and wanted to see if any of you have experienced this. I replaced my alternator in January 2016. I also replaced the battery at that time as well. Since then, on about 4 different occasions, the last one happening two days ago, I have driven the car and experienced what appears to be a failure of the battery to charge. This is not a case of the car not being driven for days, and jumping in to find the battery voltage low, but a case of the car being driven for a reasonable period of time, turned off, then when I go to restart the car, I have a low voltage warning on my Escort. This last time, I drove the car approximately 40 minutes from far across town. When I got close to home, I stopped at the store for about 10 minutes. When I attempted to start the car, the battery showed 11.8 volts. It was as if the battery failed to charge on the 40 minute drive. When I initially got in the car for the 40 minute trip, voltage read 12.3. This (12.3) is what it usually remains at between drives. This scenario has happened, I think, 4 times now since I replaced the alternator and battery back in January. On every occasion, the battery was showing 12.2 or 12.3 at the start of the drive, and when I cranked it to leave my destination, it was in the upper 11 range. It would seem to me that a parasitic drain is not the fault, as that would cause the battery to drop below the 12.3 norm when sitting for a few days. Am I correct to assume that this is an intermittent failure of the battery to charge under normal driving conditions? Thanks for your input.
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08-19-2016, 10:08 AM | #2 |
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Was the alternator new? If not maybe you got a bad one? The voltage regulator on the alternator can also be an issue and can be replaced separately, but your whole alternator should still be under warranty.
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08-19-2016, 03:16 PM | #3 |
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New as in "refurbished", which I think is all you can buy these days. It is still under warranty. I guess it's possible for the voltage regulator to fail to do it's job on an intermittent basis.
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08-20-2016, 10:55 AM | #4 |
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Believe refurbished means tested and it was working so cleaned/repackaged and sold...
Agree with the voltage regulator being a likely cause. I replaced my voltage regulator on the alternator and it's not a hard thing to do. What I did though was get one of the plug into the cigarette/power socket voltage displays from eBay to monitor the voltage to ensure it was installed and working correctly. I could monitor the voltage output in real time.... Alternatively you have a battery with an issue... Need to measure the voltage output of the alternator to see which...battery or alternator is causing the issue...
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08-20-2016, 03:59 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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11-19-2016, 10:56 PM | #7 |
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Happened to me again today. Is it possible that the voltage regulator is experiencing intermittent failure? I've read of issues involving a bad battery cable, but it would seem to me that issue would be an all the time thing once it goes bad, versus this intermittent failure. Damn I hate electrical issues.
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11-20-2016, 11:46 PM | #8 |
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Check for a bad grounding strap from engine to frame.... it could be contributing to the issue... Easy to replace to eliminate that possibility....
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11-21-2016, 12:43 PM | #9 |
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